Bangalore: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday successfully launched India's heavy rocket GSLV-D5 with an indigenous cryogenic engine from the spaceport at Sriharikota, near Chennai.

The rocket cost Rs 173 crore and satellite costs Rs 45 crore. The total weight is around 415 tonnes and the mission costs around Rs 350 crore.

"I am extremely happy and proud to say team ISRO has done it. The Indian cryogenic engine and stage performed as predicted, as expected for this mission and injected precisely the GSAT-14 communication satellite into intended orbit," ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan said from the Mission Control Room soon after the launch vehicle placed the 1,982 kg GSAT 14 satellite into the intended orbit.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also congratulated ISRO for the successful launch of GSLV-D5. He said, "It is yet another important step that the country has taken in the area of science and technology."

With this launch, ISRO became the sixth space agency in the world after the US, Russia, Japan, China and France to have tasted success with an indigenous cryogenic engine.

Launching a GSLV with an indigenous cryogenic engine has been a major challenge for ISRO since 2001 after multiple unsuccessful attempts. Only two of a total of seven attempts succeeded, four were a failure and another a partial success.

GSLV D5's scheduled launch on August 19 last year was called off in the eleventh hour after a fuel leak, following which ISRO moved the vehicle back to the Vehicle Assembly Building and rectified the defect.

Today's launch is India's eighth flight of GSLV and also the fourth developmental flight of GSLV. During this flight, the indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) was flight tested for the second time.

GSAT-14 is India's 23rd geostationary communication satellite, as four of GSAT-14 s predecessors were launched by GSLV during 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 respectively.

GSAT-14 would join the group of India's nine operational geostationary satellites.The primary objective of this mission is to augment the in-orbit capacity of extended C and Ku-band transponders and provide a platform for new experiments.

The GSAT-14 will be positioned at 74 degree East longitude and co-located with INSAT-3C, INSAT-4CR and KALPANA-1 satellites.